TOPIC: How to install LimeSurvey on a hosted Server (RackSpace or HD)

How to install LimeSurvey on a hosted Server (RackSpace or HD)
3 years 2 months ago #80983

I just finished loading LimeSurvey to hosted servers, (hd.net.nz and rackspace.com).

I was unable to find a "Install LimeService for Dummies", I read the installation notes, contemplated them for a while and captured the detail to publish here for others who may require this assistance.

Initial requirements:
1. You will need have LAMP installed on the hosted server. (I'm using UBUNTU 10.4, Apache2, MySql 5.1 and PhpMyAdmin).
2. You will need ftp access to the server, I use WinSCP. This assumes you are already able to access the database in MySQL, using phpMyAdmin or another dbAdmin tool.
3.installation Notes as worked for me, note the passwords and ip addresses are sanitised for my protection. If you do not understand this then seek help.

With most providers you can't let the script create the database but have to do it yourself: Created using Navicat

5. Configure LimeSurvey
Now open the file config.php in the /limesurvey/ root directory with your preferred text editor. Opened with Notepad++

5.1 Basic settings
Walk through config.php and check/configure the following settings:

$databasetype: already set to $databasetype = 'mysql';
$databaselocation: set to $databaselocation = '127.0.0.1'; //This works when connecting into the hostserver using Navicat
$databasename: already set to $databasename = 'limesurvey';
$databaseuser: already set to $databaseuser = 'root';
// user used to access the MySql tables using PhpMyAdmin
$databasepass: set to $databasepass = '@@@@@@@@@@@@@'; //password used to access the MySql tables using PhpMyAdmin
$dbprefix: already set to $dbprefix = 'lime_';
$rooturl: set to $rooturl = "http://{$_SERVER}/limesurvey"; // get this from the config.php in vtiger
$rootdir: set to $rootdir = dirname(__FILE__);

$defaultuser = 'admin';
$defaultpass = 'password';

6. Upload the files to your web server using FTP, connect to your web server and create a directory to store your scripts.
Then upload the files using the directory structure they are in.

7. Set Directory Permissions
For the script to work properly it needs certain access to some directories - this applies especially to Linux/*nix systems.

The "/limesurvey/tmp" directory is used for imports & uploads and should be set to Read & Write for your webserver.
The "/limesurvey/upload/" directory and all its subdirectories must also have Read & Write for your webserver in order to enable picture and media files upload.
The other directories can be set to Read Only or in Linux/Unix. You may wish to set the permissions on each file within the /limesurvey/admin directory to Read Only.

Image Hint: If you are using Linux then depending on your webserver configuration you will have to chmod the rights on the
writable folders to 755 or 777. Try 755 first - if it does not work 'upgrade' to 777.

8. Run the installation script
Go to "your.domain.com/limesurvey/admin/install". (Replace the you.domain.com with 49.xxx.241.xxx) If you configured everything correctly you will be asked to create the database and/or create the tables inside the database. Limesurvey then creates the needed tables in the database.
After the script shows that it successfully created the tables, you will be prompted to rename or delete the /admin/install directory - so just do it biggrin.

9. Connect to the administration script for the first time
You are done! Open your browser and enter the URL of your admin.php script. Assuming you used LimeSurvey as the directory name
to store the files in, this will be something like "your.domain.com/limesurvey/admin/admin.php".

You should get a login screen. The default login credentials are

User: admin
Password: password

You will be prompted to change the default password after you logged in.